1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transmission apparatus that transmits to a prescribed recipient an image after subjecting such image to image processing, as well as to an associated control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional art, an apparatus has been proposed that transmits to a prescribed recipient an image that has been input via a scanner or the like and then subjected to image processing. For example, according to the apparatus marketed as ‘Ridoc Document Router Version 2’ (Ricoh Corporation, search performed on Jul. 9, 2003, http://www.ricoh.co.jp/ridoc_ds/rds/rdr/router_v2.pdf), an input image is sent to a prescribed recipient after it is converted into data in the TIFF, PDF or other format.
In this type of apparatus, when there is a large number of transmission requests, image processing becomes backed up, potentially causing delays in image transmission. Accordingly, the methods described in the various documents below have been proposed.
According to the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-223337, priority rankings are assigned to jobs in the order of ‘scan and distribution request’, ‘selected document distribution request’, and ‘document selection request’. Where there are multiple jobs, the jobs are scheduled for execution according to their respective priority rankings.
According to the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-217980, a job template in which information such as original document scan parameters, the location in which the original document is registered, the need for correction and the like are set in advance is registered on a scan server. The original document is scanned using the job template and the original document data is registered on the scan server. The user refers to the original document registered on the scan server via a Web server.
According to the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-185693, where there are multiple documents awaiting processing, transmission processing is carried out for each document based on a preset priority system.
According to the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H 11-3188, the apparatus includes multiple receiving buffers and processing buffers, rastering is carried out for multiple jobs in parallel, and jobs having a shorter processing time are output first.
In addition, ‘Minolta PageScope Cabinet’ (Minolta Co., Ltd., search performed on Jul. 9, 2003, http://www.pagescope.minolta.com/ja/products/products/psc/index.html) also describes a technology similar to that described herein.
However, the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-223337 simply places priority on users who are standing in front of the machine, and is not particularly efficient in performing image processing and transmission in general.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-217980, there is no description of a processing method to be employed where multiple jobs exist at the same time. Therefore, in this situation, as in the conventional art, image processing can easily become backed up, causing delays in transmission.
The invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-185693 merely executes transmission processing based on a preset priority ranking, and does not improve overall processing efficiency.
The invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H11-3188 requires multiple processing modules, making the apparatus construction more complex and costly.
As described above, where there are multiple requests for image transmission, the conventional art does not enable image processing and transmission to be carried out efficiently overall.